[pat_ernzen]

Originally Posted by henk4

I looked for a pic with some orange in my files. Here is one, and subsequently "excessively reworked" to make the orange stand out. (I use Office Picture Manager,which offers not too many options)
Having obviously been present when I shoot the picture, I have to say that the totally unedited picture is much more natural.
Your picture appears to have been taken during sunshine after a heavy rainshower, which can produce very nice contracts in the air, but by highlighting those contrasts you are actually overdoing it.
PS: Neither pic is an entry as the shot is too old.

First of all, that is in no way comparable to my pic. I would absolutely agree that that is far too saturated. If it were my pic I wouldn't take it nearly that far. Yes, the unedited pic is obviously more natural as the second one is just weird looking.

However, photography is an art form. Like all art, the artist should take their personal vision and go with it. I imagine you're the type of guy that hates Salvador Dali's paintings... Afterall, they're not very "natural" looking and a hair on the "unreal" side. My editing is far from extreme or "excessively reworked" IMO. Sure, it's pretty damn bold, but again, compare it to the original and clearly it's no where near as extreme as what you did. Besides, who are you to say I'm "overdoing it"?